It is generally known to automatically fabricate pillowcases with attached hems. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,214,541 and 4,224,883 disclose an apparatus for automatically fabricating successive pillowcases with attached hems. In the apparatus disclosed in these patents, open width textile fabric is withdrawn from a supply source and a relatively narrow width of fabric is longitudinally folded and sewn to one edge of the open width fabric to continuously attach the hem along one side thereof. The open width fabric, with the hem attached, is then transversely cut in predetermined lengths to form the individual pillowcase blanks. The individual cut blanks are then folded along a transversely extending fold line in the medial portion between the cut edges with the adjacent layers of the pillowcase positioned in a substantially vertical position hanging down from a folding bar supporting the pillowcase blank along the transverse fold line. The folded pillowcase blank is moved from this substantially vertical position by grippers which pick up the upper end of the vertically extending pillowcase blank along the fold line and move the same in a horizontal direction and spread the pillowcase blank in a horizontal position across a conveyor for transporting the pillowcase blank to the side and bottom seaming operations
The cutting of the textile fabric before the folding operation makes it difficult to accurately align the edges of the pillowcase fabric during the folding operation. Also, the grippers used in moving the folded pillowcase blank from the substantially vertical position to the horizontal position may fail to properly grip the pillowcase blank along the fold line and thus cause an interruption of the production of the pillowcase forming apparatus.